Dr. Condoleezza Rice

From 2005 to 2009, Condoleezza Rice served as the 66th Secretary of State. As America’s chief diplomat, she focused on engaging U.S. partners around the world to promote stability, good-governance, and democracy. From 2001 to 2005, Dr. Rice served as National Security Advisor.

Dr. Rice joined the faculty of Stanford University as a professor of Political Science in 1981. From 1989 to 1991, she served first as Director and then Senior Director of Soviet and East European Affairs to President George H.W. Bush during the dissolution of the Soviet Union and German reunification. She returned to Stanford in 1991 and for six years served as Provost, the institution’s chief budget and academic officer. As Provost, she was responsible for a $1.5 billion annual budget and the academic program involving 1,400 faculty members and 14,000 students.

Dr. Rice has served as a director on the boards of the Chevron Corporation, the Charles Schwab Corporation, and Hewlett-Packard, as well as a member of the International Advisory Council of J.P. Morgan. She was a founding board member of the Center for a New Generation, an educational support fund for schools in East Palo Alto and East Menlo Park, California.

In addition to her work with RiceHadleyGates, Dr. Rice is a professor of Political Economy in the Stanford Graduate School of Business; the Thomas and Barbara Stephenson Senior Fellow on Public Policy at the Hoover Institution; and a professor of Political Science at Stanford University. Rice currently serves on the board of KiOR, a renewable fuels company; C3, an energy software company; and Makena Capital, a private equity firm. In addition, she is a member of the boards of the George W. Bush Institute, the Commonwealth Club, the Aspen Institute, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and the Boys and Girls Clubs of America. She has authored and co-authored numerous books, including two bestsellers, No Higher Honor: A Memoir of My Years in Washington (2011) and Extraordinary, Ordinary People: A Memoir of Family (2010).

Born in Birmingham, Alabama, Dr. Rice earned her bachelor’s degree in political science, cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from the University of Denver in 1974; her master’s from the University of Notre Dame in 1975; and her Ph.D. from the Graduate School of International Studies at the University of Denver in 1981. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and has been awarded ten honorary doctorates.

Mr. Stephen J. Hadley

Stephen Hadley served as the National Security Advisor to President George W. Bush from 2005 to 2009. From 2001 to 2005, Mr. Hadley served as Deputy National Security Advisor. In addition to covering the full range of national security issues, he had special responsibilities in several areas including a U.S./Russia political dialogue, the Israeli disengagement from Gaza, and developing a strategic relationship with India.

From 1993 to 2001, Mr. Hadley was both a principal in The Scowcroft Group (a strategic consulting firm headed by former National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft) and partner in the Washington D.C. law firm of Shea & Gardner (now part of Goodwin Proctor). In his consulting practice, he represented U.S. corporate clients investing and doing business overseas, including in China, the United Arab Emirates, and Western and Eastern Europe. At Shea & Gardner, he represented U.S. corporate clients in transactional and international matters—including export controls, foreign investment in U.S. national security companies, and the national security responsibilities of U.S. information technology companies. From 1989 to 1993, Mr. Hadley served as Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy for President George H.W. Bush, and from 1974 to 1977 he served on the National Security Council staff of President Gerald R. Ford.

Mr. Hadley remains engaged on U.S. national security policy, currently serving on the State Department’s Foreign Affairs Policy Board. He is also a Director of the Atlantic Council, serving on its Executive Committee and is a member of the Board of Managers of the Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory, Chairman of RAND’s Center for Middle East Public Policy Advisory Board, and a member of Yale University’s Kissinger Papers Advisory Board. He previously held positions as co-chair of the 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review Independent Panel, a member of the Department of Defense Policy Board, and a trustee of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Mr. Hadley also serves as Senior Advisor on International Affairs to the United States Institute of Peace (USIP). In this capacity, Mr. Hadley has co-chaired a series of senior bipartisan working groups on topics ranging from Arab-Israeli peace to U.S. political strategy in Afghanistan and Pakistan to U.S./Turkey relations. He also contributes to the Institute’s programs in the Middle East and Asia.

Mr. Hadley graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Cornell University in 1969. In 1972, he received his J.D. degree from Yale Law School, where he was Note and Comment Editor of the Yale Law Journal.

Dr. Robert Gates

Robert Gates served as the 22nd secretary of defense (2006-2011) and is the only Secretary of Defense in U.S. history to be asked to remain in that office by a newly elected President. President Barack Obama is the eighth president Gates has served. He previously served under President George W. Bush.

On Gates’ last day in office, President Barack Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America’s highest civilian honor.

Before becoming secretary of defense in 2006, Gates was the president of Texas A&M University, one of the nation’s largest universities. Prior to assuming the Texas A&M presidency on August 1, 2002, he served as interim dean of the George Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M from 1999 to 2001.

Gates joined the Central Intelligence Agency in 1966 and spent nearly 27 years as an intelligence professional. During that period, he spent nearly nine years at the National Security Council, the White House, serving four presidents of both political parties.

Gates served as director of Central Intelligence from 1991 until 1993. He is the only career officer in CIA’s history to rise from entry-level employee to director. He served as deputy director of Central Intelligence from 1986 until 1989 and as assistant to the President and deputy national security adviser at the White House from January 20, 1989 until November 6, 1991, for President George H.W. Bush.

Gates has been awarded the National Security Medal, the Presidential Citizens Medal, has three times received the National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal, and has three times received CIA’s highest award, the Distinguished Intelligence Medal.

He is the author of two memoirs, Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War, published in January 2014 and From the Shadows: The Ultimate Insider’s Story of Five Presidents and How They Won the Cold War, published in 1996.

Gates currently serves on the board of directors of Starbucks and is partner in the consulting firm, RHG LLC, with former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and others. He has also served on the board of directors and executive committee of the American Council on Education, the board of directors of the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges and the national executive board of the Boy Scouts of America. He has also been president of the National Eagle Scout Association.

He was elected president of the Boy Scouts of America in May 2014.

A native of Kansas, Gates received his bachelor’s degree from the College of William & Mary, his master’s degree in history from Indiana University and his doctorate in Russian and Soviet history from Georgetown University. Gates was installed as chancellor of the college of William & Mary, beginning in February 2012. He is the first William & Mary alumnus in the modern era to serve as chancellor of the college.

In 1967, he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force and served as an intelligence officer at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri.

Ms. Anja Manuel

Ms. Manuel is Co-Founder and Partner along with former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, former National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley and former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, in RiceHadleyGates LLC, a strategic consulting firm.

The firm assists CEOs and senior executives at major companies – many of them headquartered in California — to export, expand their businesses, and meet regulatory challenges in key emerging markets such as China, India, Latin America, and the Middle East.

Anja Manuel is also a Lecturer in the International Policy Studies Program at Stanford University where she designed and teaches a course on US Foreign Policy in Asia.

From 2005 to 2007, Anja Manuel served as Special Assistant to Under-Secretary for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns at the U.S. Department of State. In this role, Ms. Manuel had responsibility for South Asia Policy, Congressional outreach and legal matters. She was part of the negotiating team for the U.S.-India civilian nuclear accord, helped to secure passage of the accord in the U.S. Congress, and was extensively involved in developing U.S. policy toward Afghanistan and Pakistan.

From 2001 to 2005, and from late 2007 to 2009, Ms. Manuel was an attorney at the law firm of WilmerHale, where she specialized in international litigation and arbitration, anti-corruption matters, and Congressional investigations, including in China, India, Latin America, and Africa. She helped represent Senators McCain and Feingold in their defense of the Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act before the Supreme Court; and represented the German Economy Foundation Initiative in its efforts to set up a foundation to compensate forced labor victims of World War II.

Ms. Manuel started her career in the investment banking division of Salomon Brothers, working on German and Eastern European mergers and privatizations.

She graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School, and holds a BA and MA degree with distinction from Stanford University.

Ms. Manuel serves on the Board of Advisors for Ripple, Inc. and Flexport, Inc., a California company working to simplify the export-import process in the United States. She is also a Board Director for Internews, a non-profit that trains independent journalists in post-conflict and other developing countries. She is an Advisory Board Member of the Center for a New American Security, the non-profit Developments in Literacy, and was a board director of Zipcourt, Inc. Ms. Manuel is a member of the Aspen India Strategy Group, and the Council on Foreign Relations.

Ms. Justine Isola

Justine Isola is a Director. Her areas of focus include Asia and Africa and topics such as India’s domestic economic reforms; U.S. security policy in Afghanistan and Pakistan; and global Internet freedom and cyber-security.

Ms. Isola joined RiceHadleyGates in 2011. Previously, she was a visiting fellow at the Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses in New Delhi, India, where she researched India’s nuclear policy and U.S. relations. From 2005 to 2009, she was on the staff of The Atlantic magazine in Washington, DC, most recently as an associate editor. Her focuses as a writer and editor included religious conflict, civil-military relations, and U.S. foreign policy. She is also an associate fellow with the Truman National Security Project.

Ms. Isola holds a master’s degree in International Policy Studies from Stanford University and received her B.A. magna cum laude from Yale University.

Mr. Keith Hensley

Keith Hensley is Chief of Staff to former U.S. Secretary of Defense, Dr. Robert Gates, and supports Dr. Gates’ various business endeavors and coordinates his long term strategic planning.

Mr. Hensley recently returned from Afghanistan after serving with the American Red Cross. Previously, Mr. Hensley served as a member of the Office of Public Liaison at the White House, where he was the primary White House liaison to the military community. Mr. Hensley’s government experience also includes appointments with the Department of Homeland Security and at the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Following his service at the White House, Mr. Hensley directed program partnerships at the Wounded Warrior Project.

Mr. Hensley holds a B.A. in communications from Texas A&M University.

Ms. Aysha Chowdhry

Aysha Chowdhry is a Director. Her areas of focus include the Middle East and South Asia.

Ms. Chowdhry joined RiceHadleyGates in 2013. Before joining RHG, Aysha worked as a Professional Staff Member for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee covering South and Central Asia for then Senator John F. Kerry (D-MA) and Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ). At the committee, she covered U.S. foreign policy and foreign assistance in South and Central Asia, particularly Afghanistan and Pakistan. Previously, she was the Special Assistant to the Assistant to the Administrator and Director of the Office of Afghanistan and Pakistan Affairs at the U.S. Agency for International Development. Prior to her time at USAID, she worked as a Research Analyst and Publications Manager for the Project on U.S. Relations with the Islamic World at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution. She started her career working at the World Bank’s Human Development Network.

Ms. Chowdhry received a B.A. with honors from Northwestern University and an M.A. in Near and Middle Eastern Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. She is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations and member of the Truman National Security Project.

Dr. Rachel Gillum

Rachel Gillum is a Director. Her areas of focus include the Middle East and Africa, specializing in terrorism, counterterrorism, and international public opinion.

Dr. Gillum joined RiceHadleyGates in 2014. She received her doctorate from Stanford University in Political Science, concentrating in international relations and comparative politics. Dr. Gillum is a visiting scholar at Stanford’s Center for International Conflict and Negotiation (SCICN) and is the principal investigator of the Muslim-American National Opinion Survey (MANOS).

Before joining RHG, Dr. Gillum served as a researcher at the RAND Corporation’s International Policy Center where she conducted analysis on terrorist recruitment strategies and operations in the Middle East, Africa, and the West. She was formerly a fellow at Stanford’s Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC) and has also worked as a consultant for the Gallup Organization and a research assistant at the Department of Defense’s Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies.

Dr. Gillum is a member of the Truman National Security Project. She received a B.A. from the University of Washington and an M.A. from Stanford University.

Ms. Rebekah Rein

Rebekah Rein is Director of Operations.

Ms. Rein joined RiceHadleyGates in 2009, and coordinates all operational aspects of the firm. Previously, she served as special assistant to Steve Hadley while he was National Security Advisor, and as research associate in the Office of Special Advisors at the National Security Council. She also served as assistant to the director of Strategic Initiatives at the White House.